


A Sealed Envelope

by LizGlob



Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age II, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-01
Updated: 2014-12-01
Packaged: 2018-02-27 17:03:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2700581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LizGlob/pseuds/LizGlob
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>THIS WORK CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR DRAGON AGE: INQUISITION</p><p>After the battle at Adamant, Varric has some letters to write.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Sealed Envelope

     In a small house just south of Highever, a haggard looking man sits at his desk, deep in thought. Scattered around him are papers - some covered in a beautiful script, some filled with childlike drawings and characters, others with heart signatures stacked neatly in the corner. Just as a crumpled paper is to be added to the populace, a sharp knock calls the man's attention.

     His head quickly turns towards the source - someone knocking at the front door. The man's face changes to one of suspicion as he cautiously gets on his feet, eyes glancing from the knocking to a small bedroom behind him, lingering on the bed within it. He shifts his gaze back to the door and walks towards it. One hand reaches for the handle while the other grabs a staff from it's resting place on the wall. The man opens the door just enough to communicate with the stranger on the other side. He greets him gruffly. "Yes?"

     The man on the other side piped up with a cheerful greeting. "Good evening ser, I apologize for the late visit, but I have been instructed to deliver this to you as soon as possible." He spoke with a Fereldan accent.

"Who sent you here?" Fingers tighten their grasp on the staff.

"I come on behalf of the merchant's guild. I'm sorry ser, but I don't have any information on who specifically sent me. In fact, it was a rough time even trying to find this place. The map I was given was vague, and the guild is requiring me to destroy it before I go! You're the only house in this whole blasted area, I thought I'd been the victim of some sort of joke until I came over the hill. Andraste's arse, you are hard to find."

"Good."

     The messenger shifts nervously as he passes off a sealed envelope, his demeanor changing from cheery to uncomfortable. "Anyway, here you are messere, and I apologize again for the interruption."

     The man shuts the door quickly with no farewell to the messenger. Keeping his staff in hand, he glides to the window and watches the man pull out a flint and burn a piece of paper - presumably the map he was following. He watches as the stranger disappears over the hill, and continues staring at the top for several more minutes. The man loosens his grip on the staff, lets out the breath he had been unconsciously holding, and looks at the envelope in his hand.

     The seal is unfamiliar, an eye with a sword through it stamped in the blood red wax. Very official looking, not like the letters he usually recieves. The man expertly slices open the envelope with a hidden blade and pulls out the parchment inside. His eyes read line after line, his expression becoming more and more worried. At the final paragraph his eyes begin to water. Tears drip onto the parchment, blotching ink to match the tired bags under his eyes. The man lets out a scream, filled with a sorrow so deep it manifests into anger. His skin crackles with blue, fade energy swarming around him as his booming voice echoes through the room. He grabs his staff and turns towards the door, the letter dropping to the floor as fire dances on his fingertips.

The soft voice of a young girl cuts through the screams. "Daddy?"

     The man turns at the word, glowing eyes meeting the gaze of a small girl, no older than 2, emerging from the bedroom. She holds a small, hand-embroidered pillow in one hand while clutching a stuffed toy cat to her chest with the other.

"Don't be sad, daddy. Here." She takes the stuffed cat and offers it to her father, looking up at him with caring eyes.

     As the girl places her toy in his hand, his expression softens. He slowly sits next to her on the floor, the magic aura fading, revealing his sad, tired eyes.

"Arl Meow makes me better."

     She sits on his lap and wraps her small arms around his ever-thinning waist. Silent tears run down his cheeks, dampening the girl's straw colored hair. His body shakes as he weeps, weary arms embracing his daughter tightly, as if letting her go will cause him to break apart. The letter sits on the floor a few feet away, stained by his tears and singed from his fire.

 

* * *

 

 

 

> Blondie,
> 
>      Shit.
> 
>      I know Hawke has been keeping in touch with you since she left to hunt down Corypheus. You know she was working with the Grey Warden, Alistair, to track him down. Well, I introduced her to the Inquisitor, because they're both after the same enemy. Figured it would help her to see that someone else is working on it, someone competent (and with resources), and that she could go back home. Of course, the meeting had the opposite effect, as you and I could have guessed. She's convinced this whole rift is her fault, saying that she released Corypheus and that she should have known that he couldn't die that easily, that she unraveled all her father worked to seal, etc, etc.
> 
>      So, she offered to help in whatever way she could, which turned out to be an all-out attack on the Grey Warden fortress at Adamant. Turns out the darkspawn bastard has been manipulating the mage wardens into turning their non magical brethren into vessels for a demon army.
> 
>      In the battle, we were sent to the fade - the literal fade, in the flesh - thanks to some fancy handiwork by the Inquisitor. After running around in a place where no physical beings should be, much less a dwarf, we battled a demon feeding off fears. The Inquisitor opened up a rift, and I passed through back to Adamant. A few moments later, the Inquisitor and Alistair emerged, and the rift sealed. Hawke didn't make it through.
> 
>      I'm told she held off the demon I thought we had killed, allowing the Inquisitor and Alistair to escape. She died a hero. Her sacrifice allowed the Inquisition to deal a blow to Corypheus' forces, and might just save the whole fucking world.
> 
>      The demon fucked with her, Anders. Said some things about you, about her family. About how she could never save anyone. I think it got to her, stirred up some things she had tried to move past. She was lonely. She missed you, she missed the little one. But she wanted to save you. And she did, in the only way she could.
> 
>      I'm sorry.
> 
>                                                                                                                                                                                                
> 
>                                                                                                                                                                            - Varric

**Author's Note:**

> Anders never would have been okay with Hawke going off to fight Corypheus without him, so I had to think of reasons why he would have stayed behind. The way he could be manipulated as a Grey Warden was definitely a consideration, but it would make more sense for him to stay behind if there was someone else who needed to be taken care of.


End file.
